MPSC Mains GS -II- Polity

MPSC Mains GS -II- Polity
- 22 Oct 2020
- Posted By : vaishali
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GS Paper 2: Polity

Topics Covered:
- Merits of Indian federalism
- E-Governance initiatives empower Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI)
- Role of Media
- Adminstration
- Govt. increases poll spend ceiling by 10%
- Issues in the Indian Judiciary
- ‘National language’ or official language for India
Merits of Indian federalism

The term federalism refers to the constitutionally allocated distribution of powers between two or more levels of government in the modern nation-state system. In the words of Granville Austin Indian federalism is cooperative federalism, which is exemplified by innovations like interstate council, GST council and NITI Aayog.

The most salient aspect of a federal form of government is that the governments at both the national and the state level function in their respective jurisdictions with considerable independence from one another.

· Division of Powers : In a federation both the federal and state governments are independent and autonomous in the spheres of their powers. ‘One is not subordinate to the other. Both derive their powers from the constitution which is the supreme law of the land. The powers enjoyed by the units are, therefore, original and not delegated by the centre. E.g. Schedule 7 divided subjects under union, state and concurrent areas.

· Separate Government : In a federal form of government both the centre and the units have their separate set of governmental apparatus like state legislature or Gram Sabha. Still all India services provide connect between them.

· Written constitution and amendment regarding federal issue need consent of at least half number of states. Supreme Court also regarded federalism as part of basic structure doctrine; it helps in decentralized form of government.

· States cannot secede from Indian union; single citizenship allows Indians to reside in any part of the country yet states can make special provisions for reservations for domiciled residents.

· A Better Understanding of Local Issues and Demands: State Governments can be More Responsive to Citizen Needs. The closer a government entity is to its citizens, the more likely it is the respond to the needs of citizens.

· Protection against Tyranny: Spreading the national government’s power among three branches that serve as a check and balance on each other, is that it serves as a deterrent to tyranny and runaway power.

· Linguistic reorganization of states yet there is no ‘one language-one state’ formula.

· Concurrent powers improve cooperation and collaboration among union and states.

· Competitive spirit among states proves healthy for overall development. Post 1991, state governments now got relative autonomy to initiate business endeavors and bring in foreign investments to their respective states.

Ways in which India’s federal polity shaped governance:

Nations are described as federal or unitary, depending on the way in which governance is organized. Governance is nothing but process of decision making and implementation.

· Decentralization of governance : The diverse regional aspirations have managed to constantly assert themselves, resulting in the decentralization of governance in India. E.g. creation of new states, Autonomous district councils.

· Effective and efficient governance: India realized one size fits all approach cannot sustain. Importance of states in economic development policies, replacement of powerful planning commission by more facilitating NITI Aayog.

· Innovation in Law and Policy : Indian union and states adopted each other’s best practices of policy to replicate in their own jurisdiction. E.g. Mid day meal scheme of Tamilnadu. It also facilitated to create new system altogether. E.g. Policy innovations like GST council.

· Participatory governance: 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment helped to increase participatory democracy in India. Federal structure also helped to bring consensus based governance at grass root level.

· Accountability and transparency in governance also improved due to federalism as government went close to people. In apparatus like Gram Sabha, it is lot more easy to ask question to representatives.

· The most important moment for federalism in this phase is the revelation of the vital role of state governments on the ground in managing the COVID-19 crisis. After initial challenges, the Union government ceded adequate space and autonomy to the states for strengthening their healthcare facilities, managing the localized lockdowns, and implementing social security measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

However, there is need to bring some reforms to improve federal governance in India like the contentious role of the governor in suppressing the states for the Centre’s interest needs to be reviewed, proper utilization of the institutional mechanism of the Inter-state Council must be ensured to develop political goodwill between the Centre and the states on contentious policy issues and the gradual widening of the fiscal capacity of the states has to be legally guaranteed

In culturally diverse, developing countries like India; federalism is chosen not merely for administrative requirements but for the very survival of the nation. Strong federalism and good governance are necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 as it is dedicated to improvement in governance, inclusion, participation, rights, and security.

E-Governance initiatives empower Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI)

E-Governance is the application of Information Technology to improve the ability of the government to address the needs of society. It includes the publishing of policy and program-related information to transact with citizens, integration of various stand-alone systems between government to citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), and government-to-government (G2G). It extends beyond the provision of online services and covers the use of IT for strategic planning and reaching the development goals of the government.

National e-Governance Plan was launched with the objective “Make all Public Services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man”.

Objectives of e-governance -

Some of the e-governance initiatives which help to bring governance in PRI mentioned below:

· E-Panchayat : This Project intends to improve quality of governance in PRIs. Further, it also enhances the coordination between Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India and PRIs. The central objective of this project is to ensure local area development and strengthen local self-governance by providing variety of services to its stakeholders.

· Bhoomi Project (Karnataka government’s initiative): Online Delivery of Land Records, Bhoomi is a self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized delivery of 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers of Karnataka. It helps farmers to access instant information about the land.

· KHETI :The Knowledge Help Extension Technology Initiative – This Information Communication and Technology (ICT) design solution, has helped to bridge socio-economic divide digitally. KHETI uses participatory interactive designing methodologies which have resulted in a customized solution for so called ‘less privileged groups’ such as poor farmers.

· PFMS, e-FMS & Geo-tagging : has been stated for bringing transparency & accountability in management of finances available to Panchayat under Fourteenth Finance Commission award, helps in financial inclusion.

· Digital Inclusiveness in Auditing a Success Story : Good governance practices of e-initiative in the field of audit has revealed effectively the responsiveness and accountability to public money and its usage issues. This has aired the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness with the financial governance agenda. There has been success in e-auditing application by the state of Madhya Pradesh in MGNREGS fund monitoring. Every individual are getting benefited and helped to reduce the ghost accounts.

· Sevana is a major software solution developed by Information Kerala Mission (IKM) : The Sevana civil registration is utilized to register deaths and births in Panchayats and municipalities. Through these kiosks, deaths and births are registered instantly. Citizen can download birth/death certificates within 24 hours of registration at the kiosk. It helps to reduce the travelling time of the public to the nodal office, Increases the efficiency.

· Sulekha software was developed to monitor the annual plans of local government institutions in the State. Annual plans are prepared, evaluated and approved in a time bound manner through this software. It is helping to provide the better service to citizen.

Role of Media

Commercial success of media organisations had become a function of advertising revenues rather than subscription and circulation figures. The advertisers had thus replaced the recipients of media products. By the same logic, circulation figures, meant to attract advertising, became more important than content. The pursuit of profit has altered the profile of the media entrepreneur. Today, a media enterprise is seen as a necessary subsidiary for a growing business enterprise, a political party and even individuals seeking to leverage public influence for private gain.

Commercialization of news:

1. The recent practice of leveraging political and economic content in our media for overt and covert revenue generation have the malevolent potential to tarnish our polity and even destabilise the economy.

2. Sensationalism: Media often adopt sensationalism caring little whit about disturbing communal harmony. They highlight stories about crime and sexual violence, because people in general have a taste for them and there is a competition for circulation. Ex: Coverage of death of Sushant Singh Rajput.

3. Moral Panic: Though moral panic‘ is a criminological concept but has become a tactical tool of public hysteria for news media. It has been defined as a situation in which public fears and state interventions greatly exceed the objective threat posed to society by a particular individual or group who is/are claimed to be responsible for creating the threat in the first place. Media use fear-mongering, hate oriented and exaggerated content to victimize the devil folks, a protagonist in the scene, and gather large viewership. Ex: Blaming of Tablighi Jamat during start of Covid-19 pandemic.

4. Negative News: A psychological study pointed to the existences of negative bias‘- a term refers to our collective desire to hear and remember negative information- simply one of the prominent cause of news media to focus more on negative aspect of news. This psychological habit of negative bias of viewers made news media to make the news worthy and attractive. News media tend to focus on negative part because news consumers are more attentive to negative information and study has revealed negative aspect of news is more arousing and attention grabbing. Therefore, miseries, deaths, disasters, crisis, distressed, violence, conflicts gain more space and time in news program. Ex: Coverage of Pathankot incident.

5. Unsymmetrical Facts/ Molded/ Fabricated Information: Most of the time, to make the news lucrative and attention grabbing, facts are molded, unexplored, fabricated or sometime hidden. Though it is against the norms of journalistic practices but to provide a good entertainment value, production team do not flinch to compromise with journalistic codes and ethics. Ex: using fake news or partial truth which.

6. Brackets of Nationalism/ Patriotism/ Ethnocentrism/ Biased Reporting: Reviews of previous studies revealed that nationalism, patriotism and ideology of news organization overwhelm the conflict coverage which affects the pacification dealings. This also brand conflict in perspective of nationalistic fervor. When such an attempt is made, a democratic citizenry is prompted to sit before the TV screens and associate their patriotic ideology with the news content delivered on screen.

7. Labeling: In news media, labeling is practiced by symbolizing some situation or person with other. Name-calling, using provocative terms, demonizing something using certain words or phrases comes under labeling. Ex: UPSC Jihad show by Sudarshan TV to target minorities.

8. Manipulation of TRP ratings: It was come to light recently that some news channel manipulated BARC TRP ratings in order to show higher viewership.

Effect Commercialization of news

1. Failure of the fourth pillar of democracy to do its job properly and ethically. Important public issues are pushed to the background and only sensational issues are run.

2. The news commercialisation policy has made journalists to lose credibility because, it is now believed that they pay attention to the wealthy people who can pay for news so that they can suppress, twist and falsify the stories

3. It has given birth to a situation whereby news is narrowly defined against the weight of the news source’s pocket. The media, whether print or electronic, now use money as criteria for publishing news.

4. Another problem is the censorship and gate keeping problem, which news commercialisation constitutes for the editor. The editor is handicapped under the commercialisation policy. It is the duty of the editor to always edit stories, but, under the news commercialisation policy, the editor cannot edit stories according to known standards or principles in journalism.

5. Government of some countries may bribe journalists to write favourable news items about its policies and programmes, even when they are inimical to public interest.

1. The ability of the editor to judge what is news or not is completely restricted because, money becomes the evaluator.

Way forward and conclusion

1. Truth and Accuracy: Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. They should always strive for accuracy, give all the relevant facts and ensure that they have been checked.

2. Independence: Journalists must be independent voices. They should not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural. Proactively they should declare to editors – or the audience – any political affiliations, financial arrangements or other personal information that might constitute a conflict of interest.

3. Fairness and Impartiality: Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and add context. Objectivity is not always possible, and may not always be desirable (in the face for example of brutality or inhumanity), but impartial reporting builds trust and confidence.

4. Humanity: Journalists should do no harm. What one publishes or broadcasts may be hurtful, but we should be aware of the impact of our words and images on the lives of others.

5. Accountability: A sure sign of professionalism and responsible journalism is the ability to hold one accountable. When one commit errors, he must correct them and the expressions of regret must be sincere not cynical.

6. We need to add new rules to regulate journalists and their work in addition to the responsibilities outlined above, and create a legal and social framework, that encourages journalists to respect and follow the established values of their craft.

7. The News Broadcasters Association(NBA) must be proactive in tackling excessive commercialization of news, fake news, targeted journalism etc.

8. A proper ethical standard for journalism must be redeveloped by consulting relevant stakeholders and adopting best international practices.

Adminstration

Under Article 310 of the Indian Constitution, which maintains that Civil servants serve at the “pleasure” of the ruling authorities. Yet few would disagree that both civil servants and politicians often abuse this power-the former in seeking prime postings, the latter for a variety of legitimate and occasionally illegitimate reasons. This resulted in a reduction of average tenure for key senior civil service positions to less than a year in state like Uttar Pradesh. Chronic political leaders rewards supports and put its “own” staff into place. If a civil servant is truly free, he will not only tackle the above issue but will remain unaffected by any of it happenings.

Despite a great influence of the political world, the Indian civil service has so far been able to keep its own identity. During the British days, the politicisation was much less. However, with independence bequeathing a new role of development, the Indian civil servants could not hold their flock together. The number of cases of corruption has also increased tremendously. This has been partly due to the political pressure and also partly on account of erosion in the values of the civil servants. In recent times, a number of civil servants have been jailed and the courts of law in India have found them guilty of dereliction of their duties and amassing wealth many more times in proportion to their earnings.

The bureaucracy also suffers from a paradox, where extreme impersonality exists together with ready susceptibility to personal pressures and interventions. In spite of being based on meritocratic recruitment, the bureaucracy is not insulated from society. The primary problem is the recalcitrant challenges of India’s social structure and problems exacerbated by the way the bureaucracy has defined its relation to society. The ethnic religious and regional divisions in India add to “the administrative nightmare” of trying to govern such a huge country. And, in spite of not being patrimonial in character, the bureaucracy suffers from less internal capacity, more difficult environments and less carefully defined agendas of involvement. These features combine to put embedded autonomy of the sort that characterises the developmental State out of reach.

If we look at decentralization, Good fiscal management would suggest re-allocating public funds from central and state schemes to a well-designed fiscal framework for local government guaranteeing their autonomy and accountability while helping them to match resource allocations with local preferences. Flows of funds from the centre and state governments should depend on good local performance and resource mobilisation. Performance should be monitored not only by the local audit fund, but also by local journalists, civil society groups and panchayat leaders from neighboring districts. Here the framework is designed to give more freedom but with so many stakeholders involved, it becomes very difficult to work efficiently in presence of vested interests.

There is a need for a more open government where there is freedom of access to information. With the exception of security matter all other areas ought to be thrown open to public scrutiny to make the bureaucrats more accountable and less complacent. There is a need for an open government and the bureaucrats has to emerge out of the shroud of mystery.

The officers should be model citizens well above the social norms of the times. They should at least show better than average standards of honesty in comparison to other parts of bureaucracy. They ought to observe financial probity, integrity in work, intellectual honesty in tendering advice and morality in personal life. There is a need for personal and professional values within the service. There could be greater recognition of the efforts and services of the honest and committed officers to serve as models that others could emulate.

Govt. increases poll spend ceiling by 10%

Context:

* Ocyober 2020 - The Law Ministry has increased the ceiling on poll expenditure for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections by 10%.

1. An amendment to the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 in this regard has also been notified.

2. The last time the expenditure ceiling was enhanced was in 2014 just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Significance of the move:

1. The move follows a recommendation by the Election Commission in view of curbs imposed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

2. This included additional expenditure on sanitisers, masks and regulation of crowds so as to adhere to social distancing norms.

As per the changes:

1. The limit for all states/UTs where the cap for Lok Sabha poll was Rs 70 lakh, has been raised to Rs 77 lakh; and for states/UTs with Rs 54 lakh as existing limit, to Rs 59.4 lakh.

2. For assembly polls, candidates in states/UTs with Rs 28 lakh as the expenditure limit, can now spend up to Rs 30.8 lakh and those with Rs 20 lakh as existing limit, up to Rs 22 lakh.

Measures in place to ensure transparency:

Candidates must mandatorily file a true account of election expenses with the EC.

1. An incorrect account, or expenditure beyond the ceiling can attract disqualification for up to three years under Section 10A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Why there is a need for ceiling on expenditures?

1. Limits on campaign expenditure are meant to provide a level-playing field for everyone contesting elections. It ensures that a candidate can’t win only because she is rich.

2. The 255th Report of the Law Commission on electoral reforms argued that unregulated or under-regulated election financing could lead to “lobbying and capture, where a sort of quid pro quo transpires between big donors and political parties/candidates”.

Further reforms:

Cap on party spends:

The EC has asked the government to amend the R P Act and Rule 90 of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, to introduce a ceiling on campaign expenditure by political parties in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

1. It should be either 50% of or not more than the expenditure ceiling limit provided for the candidate multiplied by the number of candidates of the party contesting the election.

2. The limit will ensure level playing field for all political parties and curb the menace of unaccounted money in elections.

3. It will also control the money power used by political parties and their allies.

Supreme Court observations: Kanwar Lal Gupta Vs Amarnath Chawla case.

Supreme Court of India has said that money is bound to play an important part in the successful pursuit of an election campaign in Kanwar Lal Gupta Vs Amarnath Chawla case.

1. Voters get influenced by the visibility of a candidate and party and huge election spending thus impacts voter’s choice.

Various Committees and Commissions in this regard:

1. Law Commission of India- 170th Report on “Reform of the Electoral Laws” in 1999.

2. Election Commission of India- Report in 2004 on “Proposed Electoral Reforms”.

3. Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms in 1990.

4. Vohra Committee Report in 1993.

5. Indrajeet Gupta Committee on State Funding of Elections in 1998.

6. National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution in 2001.

7. Second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2008.

Recently, the Law Commission in its 255th Report has also made several recommendations on electoral reforms under 3 categories namely viz:

1. Limits on political contribution and party candidate expenditure.

2. Disclosure norms and requirements.

3. State funding of elections.

Qs and More Reading -

1. Overview of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.

2. Revised poll spending limits.

3. About election commission.

4. Who decides on issues related to poll spending?

5. Is there any limit on party spending?

6. Various committees and Commissions in this regard.

Issues in the Indian Judiciary

Recent past fortnight has seen two significant developments in connection with the Indian judiciary: the first was the decision of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Prashant Bhushan’s contempt case, and the second was the retirement of Justice Arun Mishra. These events, in their own way, magnify the chinks in the armour of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s recent contempt judgement against Prashant Bhushan has again raised the question of what is considered legitimate criticism of India’s higher judiciary. But first, we must define the identity of the higher judiciary, and its new relationship with the public. The Supreme Court has evolved the judicial appointment system and enlarged its public interest litigation (PIL) jurisprudence well beyond its original constitutional mandate, effectively converting itself into a people’s court. This new identity requires new rules of accountability, criticism and feedback, to ensure checks and balances.

Allegations of being an Executive court

An Executive court is a court that fails to keep a check on the executive powers. It means that a court instead of being neutral and impartial in its judgements delivers verdicts in the favour of the Government. This in turn leads to political interference in the functioning of Judiciary, shatters the image of the judiciary in the eyes of people and leads to loss of trust and confidence of people in Judiciary. The allegations are levelled with the following citations:

1. Acceptance of Post-retirement Jobs by the Judges: eg: Former CJI was nominated to Rajya Sabha. Another CJI was appointed as the governor of Kerala.

2. Pro-Government decisions by the judges or openly praising the

Master of Roster system

1. Master of Roster which refers to the privilege of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to constitute benches to hear cases. Roster is prepared by the Registrar of Supreme Court under the orders of CJI.

2. The issue of Master of Roster is quite important since in the year 2018, 4 SC Judges held a press conference to register their differences with the then CJI.It was considered to be unprecedented since normally internal conflicts within Judiciary do not come out openly.

3. In the press conference, the 4 SC Judges had highlighted that the CJI was misusing his powers as “master of roster” by selectively allocating politically sensitive cases to certain selected benches in order to get a favourable verdict.

Judicial Appointments

1. There is a tendency to view the threat to judicial independence in India as emerging from the executive branch, and occasionally the legislature. But when persons within the judiciary become pliable to the other branches, it is a different story altogether.

2. The lack of information in the transfer resolution has led to a barrage of criticism against the collegium and its opaque process of appointments and transfers.

3. The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act was struck down by the Court on grounds of excessive executive interference in the selection of judges.

Lack of transparency

1. Many a times there have been serious allegations on the conduct of senior judges of the SC. Former CJI was alleged of sexual misconduct. Time and again many fingers have pointed towards corruption within the judiciary.

Contempt of court

1. Article 129 of the Constitution conferred on the Supreme Court the power to punish contempt of itself. Article 215 conferred a corresponding power on the High Courts. The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, gives statutory backing to the idea.

2. The court’s power of contempt has a chilling effect on legitimate criticism. Criticism of individual judges and judgements is sometimes treated as an attack on the integrity of the judiciary. When the court adjudicates substantive values, using contempt powers to stifle dissent is wrong. The court has used contempt to in instances like Prashant Bhushan case where many commentators felt that criticism was bonafide.

Is the legitimacy of Indian Judiciary under threat?

1. Every now and then there are questions asked and criticism thrown at the various organs of the democracy. It only makes them stronger. But strong allegations of bias, corruption and the opaque system on functioning casts a doubt in the minds of the common man lowering the faith of the public in the Indian Judiciary.

2. With the evolution of PILs, appointment procedures and jurisprudence over the years, India’ constitutional architecture finds itself on shaky ground. For better or worse, the judiciary seems to have fashioned itself as a governance institution, though it is neither democratically elected nor appointed by a government that is.

3. The details of the appointments of those who govern us be reviewed for accountability. Such an institution demands a new set of checks and balances. A people’s court will naturally receive feedback, if not criticism, from the very people it claims to govern.

4. If the Indian judiciary wishes to increase the faith in itself, it must embrace some rules of public accountability that it has long enforced on other institutions of governance in the country.

Way Forward

1. To make the system more transparent and declare the reasons for transfer of the judges. Merit and seniority should be given an upper hand while making transfers rather than personal interests.

2. Allocation of cases to benches should be free from bias- random computer allocation. Allocation based on subject expertise of the Judges. Recuse themselves from hearing of cases on account of perceived conflict of Interest. The European Court of Justice Model of allotment of cases can be emulated.

3. Politically sensitive cases should be handled by larger bench and a definite set of criteria must be evolved in their handling.

4. Cooling-off period for the Judges or total ban on further appointments after retirement.

‘National language’ or official language for India

India is a land of diversity comprising of individuals from different communities, backgrounds, religions etc. What one eats, how one speaks, differs from region to region. In this diversity, we Indians often look for symbols and objects that unite us. The national anthem, national animal, national song, national flower are pertinent examples. It is famously said, that in India language changes every few kilometres just like the water. Therefore, unlike the other national symbols the choice of a ‘national language’ or official language for India has been difficult and has witnessed violence and heated debates.

It has been rightly said that India is like a beautiful carpet woven in a design that has a language of diverse cultural representations woven by knots tightly holding the entire fabric of the nation. The beauty of this carpet is besmirched if one culture or language is given more importance than the other. Instead, all languages should be treated with equal respect and promoted.

Historical perspective of Language issue

1. The adoption of a national language, the language in which the Constitution was to be written, and the language in which the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly were to be conducted were the main questions debated.

2. Widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in Tamil Nadu, led to the passage of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English for all official purposes.

3. Hindi became the sole working language of the Union government by 1965 with the State governments free to function in the language of their choice.

4. The constitutional directive for the Union government to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained within Central government entities in non-Hindi-speaking States.

5. According to the 2001 Census, India has 30 languages that are spoken by more than a million people each. The Constitution lists 22 languages and protects them in the eighth schedule.

6. According to Article 351 of the constitution of India, It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.

Pros of a single official language

1. It can lead to become a ‘national language’ which is representative of the country, its cultural heritage and history. It gives the impression that citizens of the country know and speak that language.

2. The lack of national language acts as barrier for the progress of nation. For example, Students avoid going to other places for education and research due to lack of understanding of local languages.

3. Having one language is vital in preserving national unity.

4. Having one official language saves government money that would have been spent translating various public documents as well as offering translation services.

Cons of prioritizing a single language

1. Imposition of any language over this linguistic heritage will definitely destroy our cultural and historical melodies. This is also noteworthy that the UN has already expressed its concern over the vanishing of several local scripts and languages. We are lucky enough to have most of our regional languages and dialects intact enough, but any attempt to damage them will ruin our cultural riches.

2. People’s Linguistic Survey of India, headed by eminent academic G.N. Devy, found that our country is home to 780 languages and 66 different scripts. Given this enormous heterogeneity, privileging of one language by the state does great disservice to other equally-deserving language.

3. If Hindi is declared as the national language, every citizen of the country would be required to learn the same. Such a situation would definitely benefit a north Indian (as Hindi is the most prominent language in the region) over citizens from the other regions, as the latter would be expected to learn a language from scratch. In effect, members of northern India would be placed at an advantage over the others, which is wrong.

4. Asserting the hegemony of Hindi and being belligerently pushing it under a misconception that it is the national language (rashtra bhasha) so ordained by the Constitution of India is the biggest misunderstanding and one solitary factor which contributes to discord with people of the nation where Hindi is not spoken.

5. The Constitution of India balances with a sense of sensitivity and equality amongst the people to give due respect to ethnic identity of the peoples, their language and their culture. The Constitution of India speaks of a composite culture of the nation.

6. It may meet with opposition among non-Hindi speaking states which is not in the interests of the nation as experienced before against imposition of one language.

7. It goes against the idea of “Unit in Diversity”. Preserving diversity maybe a key to preserve the unit of India. The East Pakistani government ordained Urdu to be the sole official language and people decided to defy the law. Several agitations were held which even took a violent shape at some place and finally the Pakistani government was compelled to give Bengali its due status.

8. In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew had justification to adopt Chinese as its sole official language as 74.2% of the population is Chinese, 13.2% Malays and 9.2% Indians. He not only selected English but also recognised languages of every social group. He mandated that each Singaporean should learn their respective mother tongue along with English. He was of the firm view that only the roots one has in his/her mother tongue would be shaping his/her future personality. This is hailed as an historic step.

Way forward

1. The Constitution of India has included the clause to protect minority languages as a fundamental right. It states” Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part of thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.”

2. The language policy of India provides guarantee to protect the linguistic minorities. Under the Constitution, provision is made for appointment of Special Officer for linguistic minority with the sole responsibilities of safeguarding the interest of language spoken by the minority groups.

3. The National Education Policy, 2020 in which teaching up to at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/regional language. No language will be imposed on any student. It is also a welcome step.

4. The new “National Translation Mission” to make knowledge texts accessible, in all Indian languages listed in the VIII schedule of the Constitution, through translation, will be a good step.

5. The Supreme Court recently, where it made its judgments available not only in Hindi but also in other regional languages.

6. Another unique feature of India is the concept of protecting the interest of children to get basic education in their mother tongue. The Constitution provides” it shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups”. Thus, even before the United Nations declared the International Mother Language Day (February 21) the founders of the Indian Constitution gave top priority to teaching in mother tongues’, enabling the child to develop its full potential

7. The language policy of India has been pluralistic, giving priority to the use of mother tongue in administration, education and other fields of mass communication. The Language Bureau of Ministry of Human Resource Development is set up to implement and monitor the language policy.